Review – Interstellar

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is one of the most stunning cinematic experiences he has ever graced the big screen with and though it does get bogged down in some shaky character development and a plot that if you’re not fully willing to get invested in you might find a bit silly, despite this when I left the cinema I was completely on board with the unmatchable experience that Nolan had just given to me.

The first thing that I must absolutely talk about when it comes to Interstellar is the visual onslaught that this film provides. Safe to say this film is stunning to watch and it’s one that I very much want to see again in IMAX just so I can experience this film in the way Christopher Nolan intended. This film has some moments where I was genuinely blown away with the worlds that I was seeing and the moments I was experiencing, Nolan certainly went all out in making these worlds and the outer space sections feel real and that was probably helped by the fact that Nolan used so much more than just VFX to bring said places to life. The use of fully built sets for the spacecraft, miniatures for outer space sections and large projected landscapes so the actors could get a visual idea of what it was they were looking at and acting against, all went to making this impossible film seem a little bit more real. I really can’t stress just how much this film is a treat for your eyes, it is stunning and it replicates and improves on some of those mind blowing/bending moments that were experienced during Nolan’s 2010 hit ‘Inception’.

The film does however falter in some places but only slightly. When I first began the film I was a little confused on the development of the characters and how they all played their part in the film, for a film that clocks in at 2 hour and 50 minutes I felt that the full development and understanding of the characters was lacking. Apart from two of the films lead characters ‘Cooper’ (played by Mathew McConaughey) and ‘Murph’ (played by Mackenzie Foy and Jessica Chastain), no one else is really fleshed out enough for much attachment or understanding of them to occur and this does mean that when some characters die in the film I found myself shrugging it off and just continuing on with the roller coaster ride that is the film.

Despite the fact that not every character in the film is as developed as I would have liked one thing that is unmistakable is the acting in the film is on point. Now when I say on point what I’m really meaning is that every one that Nolan cast in the film brings their A game. The obvious stand out in the film is Mathew McConaughey who brings an incredible performance to this film. There are moments in Interstellar where McConaughey just commands the screen and commands your attention, his renaissance as an actor cannot be denied and I am happy that he is now the acting force that he is, he perfectly captures the gut wrenching agony that any father must feel in leaving his family behind and his need to get back to them in the film and it is an intense journey to follow. Another stand out performance in the film for me was the young actress Mackenzie Foy who plays the daughter of our lead character; this is an actress to keep an eye on, not only in the film because she does a flawless job but also for the future because I can see her having a very promising career.

The plot of Interstellar is an interesting one because when you boil it down to its most simplest of ingredients it is a silly, farfetched concept and it is one that I can easily see dividing audiences in its execution. I fall on the side of liking it, I think that was Nolan does with this very much out there story line works and even though I was confused and not fully on board at first, by the end of the film he had completely brought me around and I left that cinema with a satisfied smile on my face. One of the plot points in the film that really stuck with me though was how time was used in the film in conjunction with a father leaving his family behind on earth.

I should point out at this point that this next section may have mild spoilers so if you wish to avoid them then jump to the next paragraph. So yes the use of time and the separation of a man’s family in the film was explored in a really fascinating way for me, Mathew McConaughey character travels through a worm hole and lands on a planet close to a black hole and because of the time displacement and the amount of time he spends down their 23 years have passed on Earth but only a few hours for him. He then has this heart crushing scene where he watches all the messages sent to him from his family back on Earth and watches them grow and change before his very eyes, something about this scene just bowled me over, whether it was the impeccable acting by McConaughey or just the uniqueness of the whole concept, it was just something I couldn’t stop thinking about long after the film had finished. It was moments like this that made this film such a beautiful experience.

So with this being a Nolan film that means we have the wonderful and expertly crafted music of ‘Hanz Zimmer’. Wow is the best way to describe the soundtrack in this film, Zimmer once again seemed to perfectly understand Nolan’s vision and marry the insane scope of this film with his grandiose level of music. Whether it was a quiet intimate moment between two characters or an epic in scale moment where the characters where hurtling through space Hans Zimmer’s score was perfect.

It’s safe to say that I loved this film, I’ve always been a huge fan of Christopher Nolan’s work and this film is no different, yes it has some problems and for some people these may break the film but for me this was an incredible experience of a film and one that very much warrants you seeing it.